The Questions for the Coming Year"As Charles has shown over the years, this is the best combination for equity markets, as tight fiscal policy and loose money almost invariably leads to far higher P/E ratios. Alas, the opposite is true for the reverse: loose fiscal policy and tight money typically trigger a de-rating of equity markets. And this is the policy mix we seem to be heading towards." Louis-Vincent Gave, Gavekal Research, December 15, 2017

“What we said for years, going back to the beginning of so called Quantitative Easing in America was that it was not Quantitative Easing, it was Quantitative Diseasing (...) and that Quantitative Easing as it is called is always contractionary and deflationary, and that we’re having a bull market and economic expansion DESPITE it, not BECAUSE of it."

"Means become ends and ends become means. Consequently, the original goals of such organizations are now considered to be nothing more than obstacles on the way to realizing new aims (...) the collective perpetuates its existence, regardless of whether it has any role left and how well it functions."Sam Vaknin, Lidija Rangelovska, Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited, 10th edition, 2015

Baseball Thoughts"Baseball is about losing most of the/your time; for all the audience cheering and TV noise its natural pace is laconic." Anonymous and Stefan Jovanovich, Daily Speculations, October 23, 2017

“But underneath that shift, which is undoubtedly real, perhaps there’s another shift, away from the consumption of material things in general, and towards the consumption of experiences. Away from the tangible towards the intangible." Read more...

Fathom Consulting, Thank Fathom it’s Friday – Are we living in a material world? October 27th, 2017

The First Billion-Dollar CompanyIt was only back in 1970 that the capitalization of the entire United States stock market hit $1 trillion and soon a single company may be worth that much. This raises the question, what was the first company to be worth $1 billion? Dr. Brian Taylor, Global Financial Data, 15 November 2017

"It’s amazing how quickly I have already sort of become accustomed to it and how quickly I feel confident in what I can do when I am in it. It’s sort of like "I HAVE BECOME THE CAR"!".Doug DeMuro, Here's Why the Lamborghini Huracan Is Worth $250,000, December 20, 2016

Data Brand DependenceIf it is a day ending in “y” you can be sure there is somewhere in the financial press a story or “news report” of the looming bond selloff – even if it is due to some future event or made up phenomenon. Jeffrey P. Snider, Alhambra Investment Partners, November 9, 2017

$106,000 for coffee? Let’s talk compoundingMost of my five children enjoy drinking coffee. Not just any old cup of joe, mind you, but a premium cup of java from one of the popular coffee chains. When they place their orders, it sounds like they’re speaking in a foreign language. Fran Kinniry, Vanguard Blog, May 25, 2017

“The Bank will continue with "Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with Yield Curve Control,” aiming to achieve the price stability target of 2 percent, as long as it is necessary for maintaining the target in a stable manner."

“We’ll Live To 100 – How Can We Afford It” New World Economic Forum white paper, in collaboration with Mercer

How well prepared are we to support ourselves and future generations in old age? A new report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), in collaboration with Mercer, We’ll Live To 100 - How Can We Afford It? provides a disconcerting view. More...

This Is Not the Financial Crisis’s 10-Year Anniversary 10 years ago today, France’s largest bank froze three hedge funds as subprime-panicked investors fled. Headlines globally are calling this the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis, and at first blush, it certainly has all the trappings. Packaged subprime mortgages, a run on a bank, a liquidity crunch and hard-to-value assets. Elisabeth Dellinger, Fisher Investments MarketMinder, August 9, 2017

Some Global Odd & EndsWhen it comes to central bank experimentation, Japan is always at the forefront. If something new is being done, Bank of Japan is where it happens. In May for the first time in human history, that central bank’s balance sheet passed the half quadrillion mark. It should be unsettling where a trillion is a rounding error. Jeffrey P. Snider, Alhambra Investment Partners, July 3, 2017

The Bank Bubble of 1929"In reality, the bull market of the 1920s had more of an impact upon utility stocks and bank stocks than it did on industrial and railroad stocks."

Dr. Brian Taylor, Global Financial Data, June 3, 2017

The Basis For The Changing BasisIt is simply the nature of modern Economics to get most things backward. Positive Economics particularly in the form of econometrics has been like a declaration of ignorance, where Economists have formally decided to try and understand as little as possible. Jeffrey P. Snider, Alhambra Investment Partners, 28.03.2017

Global Demographic Trends Shape Policy Environment"Demographics are key determinants of what is economically feasible at both the global and national levels. Demographics also have important implications for monetary policy. Slower population and labor force growth in the coming decades will have a depressing effect on real interest rates." Mark A. Wynne, Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, July 2016

An Interesting Forecast for Interest Rates"While inflation expectations do influence long rates, as lenders demand a higher return to compensate for the loss of purchasing power, we don’t think the logic supporting the outlook for rising rates holds. From a high level, markets often go against the consensus and do what few anticipate." Fisher Investments Editorial Staff , Fisher Investments MarketMinder, March 17, 2017

“Many of the jobs that AI will destroy – like credit scoring, language translation, or managing a stock portfolio – are regarded as skilled, have limited human competition and are well-paid. Conversely, many of the jobs that AI cannot (yet) destroy – like cleaning, gardening, or cooking – are relatively unskilled and are low-paid.”

"What production would you absolutely not like to participate in? Oh, accounting, or anything with numbers, anything where you can't lie...you know what I mean, you can't lie, the figures don't lie!"Inside the Actors Studio with Jay Leno, March 19, 2015

Stock Market Provides Imperfect View of Real U.S. Economy"The stock market—through measures such as the Standard & Poor’s 500—is often thought to be an economic bellwether. However, market volatility compromises the reliability of such indexes." Julieta Yung, Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, May 2016

A Possible Leadership Rotation in 2017?"While investor sentiment has been slow to warm in America in this bull market, Europe (and, specifically, the eurozone) is even further behind." Fisher Investments Editorial Staff, Fisher Investments MarketMinder, March 1, 2017

“The fact that models can deliver only an approximation of the truth means that conducting monetary policy is not a mechanical exercise. It is a complex blend of art and science—in effect, it is an exercise in risk management." Building the next generation of economic models is a priority for the Bank of Canada, Governor Poloz says, 31 January 2017

Benjamin Harrison and the Terrible Tariff"The Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 is blamed for intensifying the Great Depression, and the lesser-known McKinley Tariff of 1890 provides an instructive lesson on how protectionist policies can impact the stock market and politics." Dr. Brian Taylor, Global Financial Data, January 25th 2017

You can probably tell me what brand coat you have on, but can you tell me what brand of knife you used to prepare dinner last night? According to Jay Patel, owner of London-based Japanese Knife Company, the knife is humankind’s most valuable and underrated tool.

The Future of Energy Prices: Lessons from 750 Years of History"... for most of history, commodity prices stayed the same for periods of several centuries. It was mainly in the 1500s and the 1900s that the world experienced irreversible increases in commodity prices." Dr. Brian Taylor, Global Financial Data, January 5th 2017